'12 Years A Slave' Wins Big at DC's WAFCA Awards

The Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, of which we are proud members, revealed their winners of the 12th annual WAFCA Awards, and the critics of the Nation's Capital heaped their praise upon Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave. The slavery won a staggering six awards, the most in the group's history, claiming Best Film, Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Ensemble, and continuing Lupita Nyong'o's surge with a win for Best Supporting Actress.

A consensus continues to build around Cate Blanchett's jittery performance in Blue Jasmine, adding to the three Best Actress victories she scored over the weekend. One of the rare losses for 12 Years A Slave came in the Best Director category where Alfonso Cuaron won for his staggering sci-fi epic, Gravity, which also gave cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki another award to place on his mantle. The group chose Disney's Frozen over the somewhat polarizing The Wind Rises for Best Animated Feature, and Oscar-favorite Jared Leto won for his transformative performance in Dallas Buyers Club. The inaugural Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington DC was given to Lee Daniels' The Butler, earning the acclaimed historical drama its only victory. 

The full list of winners is below.

Best Film:
12 Years a Slave

Best Director:
Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)

Best Actor:
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Supporting Actor:
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress:
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Acting Ensemble:
12 Years a Slave

Best Youth Performance:
Tye Sheridan (Mud)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)

Best Original Screenplay:
Spike Jonze (Her)

Best Animated Feature:
Frozen

Best Documentary:
Blackfish

Best Foreign Language Film:
The Broken Circle Breakdown

Best Art Direction:
Production Designer: Catherine Martin, Set Decorator: Beverley Dunn (The Great Gatsby)

Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, A.M.C. (Gravity)

Best Editing:
Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger (Gravity)

Best Original Score:
Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Lee Daniels' The Butler

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The 2010 WAFCA Awards are here!! *UPDATE*

Every year, the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association(WAFCA) gathers together to vote on the pinnacle of cinematic achievement. These awards have garnered international acclaim and respect, often serving as a pre-cursor to the eventual Academy Award winners. Founded in 2002, WAFCA is made up of the very best in the field of film journalism and critique, including such local stalwarts as Arch Campbell, Nell Minow, Jim Judy, Tim Gordon, Joe Barber and many more.  It's been the pleasure of yours truly and my partner in crime, John Nolan, to be first year members of this honored group and voters in the WAFCA awards as well.

Well it's awards season again, and the time for butting heads is upon us. The ballots have been sent out, the nominees are in place, and each of us have begun lobbying for what we truly believe are the best movies and performances of the year. The fighting's been intense and will continue through the weekend. There's only been one incident of physical violence when someone tried to nominate Youth in Revolt for Best Picture.

The 2010 WAFCA Award winners will be announced this upcoming Monday, December 6th at 8AM eastern. Your hosts for this event will Tim Gordon of Keeping It Reel with FilmGordon; Kevin "BDK" McCarthy of WTTG Fox 5 News and the Kevin and Josh Movie Show; and yours truly, Travis Hopson. I am again honored. You can listen to the big reveal live by clicking here, so set a date to wake up early and join us!

*UPDATE*

The 14 categories we will be casting our votes for are...
Best Film
Best Animated Film
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Ensemble
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Art Direction
*Best Cinematography
*Best Score

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